Best way to change tanks?

[Jarred Darque]

OK, I am upgrading my 5 gallon to my 10 gallon.

I am thining of rinsing the new sand, putting it in the 10, filling the 10 gallon and draining it to remove most of the cloudiness, (I have ways of filtering out almost all cloudiness in a few minutes) Then filling the tank halfway withthe tank water from the 5 gallon, and then moving the liverock over, fill my bucket with water, get it to the right SG and temp, then place that in the 10 gallon 24 hours later?

this sound ok?

 

[Sadielynn]

Here is how I have done it :
have extra water premade and aerate for use ( I use the guideline of about the tank gallon IE if you have a 10 gallon mix 10 ect)
get a tube drain most of your water into a bucket , take the remaining water to cover your corals , lr with . Place fish in the other bin that you emptied most of your water into place a filter on to aid in water cleaning and aeration ect , this helps prevent gill burns from ammonia ..
Next no need to rinse your sand place into the new tank add additional if needed. Next add your live rock and aquascape to your liking .... place in corals at this point you should be ok to add most of your saved water from the corals and live rock ,and the fish holding bin take and use tubing (airline tubing works well ) run it off of the rocks this will help prevent the sand storm . once you have all of it in place your fish into the tank and have ready the new water fill up your containers to run it in to your tank turn on filter to absorb the ditrus , (you may need to replace your filter /carbon pad 1 or 2 times depending on the junk picked up ) adjust the filter so as to not blow sand around . Once your tank is filled up keep some extra water at the ready for water changes should testing indicate , you can also run a tandem filter to help you clear the water faster .(usually 12-24 hours )Be sure to match ph and temp , salinity before adding to a tank with fish . I have moved tanks many times and have done so with out problems it usually only takes an afternoon to do if you have help . Also run lighting on an abbreviated schedule that day to help with stress ...I usually time mine to complete around the time lights go out.
http://www.nano-tanks.com/phpBB2/viewforum.php?f=3

 

[Jarred Darque]

ok thanks. I went ahead and put the sand in the 10 gallon yesterday, then added about 7 gallons of water nad some salt. I have not tested it for salinity yet, since the wtaer was very cloudy when I left my house yestrerday (still not back) When I get back, I will test and adjust the aslinity, the temp should be dead on, I used a filter that was in the 10 gallon before, and set to 78. Once the salinity is correct, I will drain the 10 gallon down to about 4 gallons, drain the 5 gallon water and place it into the 10 gallon water, t hen move the liverock and critters over. (BTW the water in the 10 gallon will have been sitting for at least over 24 hours to equalize.

 

[Sadielynn]

These are some pictures about 1 hour apart I will look for some better ones for you but as you can see things cleared up quite well
http://www.nano-tanks.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=190

 

[Jarred Darque]

Thanks for the advice both of you. I ran an extra filter for a few hours, till I could at least see the back of the tank. I have the 10 gallon up an running, all the live rock and cleaning crew are moved. I need to get more rock, it looks empty with only 9 lbs.

The tank has been set up for about 6 hours now, and I can see through it, the water isnt perfectly clear, but close. I hav about 200 gph flow on it, 2 80gph power heads and a filter. The PHs are located at the top, on the same wall, facing lengthways across the tank, gives me excelelnt circular flow around the tank lengthways along the top, down one side, the opposite direction along the bottom and up the other side. Also gives me some low flow areas for the corals that dont want high flow.

All the cleaning crew seems to be doing fine, need to wait till tomorrow after the lights have been on a while to check on all the hitchikers though, I dont know though if I managed to grab any of the mysis shrimp though. I left a gallon of water in the old tank so I can try and find any creatures I want to move over as well that werent on the rock or large enough to see initially.

I am thinkin about pickin up another 9 lbs liverock later this week, and a few more nessarius snails, only have 2 atm, and 5 hermits, a green emerald, and whatever type of hitchiker mithrax crab I have...none of hte LFSs had any idea what type he was, and neither knew how to identify an anemone crab..which I think it may be

 

[Sadielynn]

I am thinkin about pickin up another 9 lbs liverock later this week, and a few more nessarius snails, only have 2 atm, and 5 hermits, a green emerald, and whatever type of hitchiker mithrax crab I have...none of hte LFSs had any idea what type he was, and neither knew how to identify an anemone crab..which I think it may be

If you pick up more LR add it slowly and make sure it is cured so that you dont go threw a HUGE cycle

 

[Jarred Darque]

The liverock I get is fully cured, I didnt even get a real cycle when I started it up.